A review of the continuous professional development system for pharmacists

Background The Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (PPS) implemented a system of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for pharmacists in 2004. This system has evolved throughout the years, and currently all active pharmacists in Portugal are required to participate in the CPD program. Each CPD cycle takes 5 years. In each cycle, pharmacists must collect 15 CPD points, through participation in educational activities. The PPS accreditation process is managed via an online platform, where education/training providers, as well as pharmacists themselves, can submit educational activities for accreditation. Pharmacists may access their CPD status and assess their development at any point. The objective of this study was to analyze and review the educational activities submitted by providers over a 11-year period (2009–2019). Methods Data from activities were retrieved from the PPS CPD online platform. All educational activities were labeled according to the area of pharmaceutical professional focus, type of promoter, and activity type. Results During the study 3685 activities were analyzed. Over the last decade, submitted activities for accreditation increased in 52.6%. A significantly high proportion (98.9%) of these activities has been accredited. Promoters of activities were mostly pharmacies sectoral associations (29.6%), consultancy/training companies (19.6%), the PPS (18.5%), pharmaceutical industry (17.7%) and wholesalers’ consortia (9.0%). Academia represented only 2.3% of the total amount of educational activities. The most frequent topics were related to “pharmacology & pharmacotherapy” (9.9%), followed by “counselling” (9.8%) and “management & administration” (7.2%). The most accredited type of activities was face-to-face (68.9%) and e-learning trainings (13.1%). Conclusions This study shows increasing interest in submitting CPD activities for accreditation between 2009 and 2019, but it also demonstrates that Academia could play a more interventive role in the lifelong learning education of Portuguese pharmacists.

Exploring the fit between mobile application service and application privacy

Purpose With the popularity of mobile applications and increasing consumer awareness of application privacy, this paper aims to introduce a new construct of service-privacy fit (i.e. the perceived degree of match between the service of a mobile application and a privacy permission request) to predict consumers’ mobile application adoption. Design/methodology/approach Four experiments were carried out to test the hypothesized relationships. The first study investigated the direct impact of service-privacy fit on application adoption and the mediators of benefit expectancy and privacy concerns. The second, third and fourth studies further applied the moderated mediation model to analyze the moderating roles of benefit message type, regulatory focus type and privacy assurance. Findings The results show that service-privacy fit influences application adoption not only directly but also indirectly via the mediators of benefit expectancy and privacy concerns. Furthermore, the findings confirm the moderators of benefit message type, regulatory focus type and privacy assurance. Originality/value Drawn from the perspectives of task-technology fit and information boundary theory, this paper introduces a new construct of service-privacy fit as a determinant of application adoption. Grounded in privacy calculus theory, it further explains this relationship through mediating effects of benefit expectancy and privacy concerns. Furthermore, this paper proposes that benefit messages and privacy assurance are effective coping strategies to increase the benefit expectancy and reduce the privacy concerns of applications. Based on the perspective of regulatory fit theory, this study further shows that the effects of coping strategies rely on personal traits. The findings enrich the existing knowledge of mobile application adoption and application privacy, suggesting that practitioners should consider mobile consumers’ perception of service-privacy fit when developing applications.

Limit Cycles of Planar Piecewise Smooth Quadratic Systems with Focus-Parabolic Type Critical Points

It is very important to determine the maximum number of limit cycles of planar piecewise smooth quadratic systems and it has become a focal subject in recent years. Almost all of the previous studies on this problem focused on systems with focus–focus type critical points. In this paper, we consider planar piecewise smooth quadratic systems with focus-parabolic type critical points. By using the generalized polar coordinates to compute the corresponding Lyapunov constants, we construct a class of planar piecewise smooth quadratic systems with focus-parabolic type critical points having six limit cycles. Our results improve the results obtained by Coll, Gasull and Prohens in 2001, who constructed a class of such systems with four limit cycles.

Bifurcations in a Predator–Prey Model of Leslie-Type with Simplified Holling Type IV Functional Response

In this paper, we complete the remaining investigation of local bifurcations in a predator–prey model of Leslie-type with simplified Holling type IV functional response. The system has at most three equilibria, and local bifurcations were completely investigated in the cases of one and three equilibria, but in the case of two equilibria the previous study was only on a fixed parameter. We extend the study in the case of two equilibria for all parameters, and find that the system exhibits Hopf bifurcations of codimensions 1 and 2, and Bogdanov–Takens bifurcations of codimensions 2 and 3. Previous results and our research show that the codimension of local bifurcations is at most 3, and both focus type and cusp type Bogdanov–Takens bifurcations of codimension 3 can occur.

Two Nested Limit Cycles in Two-Species Reactions

We search for limit cycles in the dynamical model of two-species chemical reactions that contain seven reaction rate coefficients as parameters and at least one third-order reaction step, that is, the induced kinetic differential equation of the reaction is a planar cubic differential system. Symbolic calculations were carried out using the Mathematica computer algebra system, and it was also used for the numerical verifications to show the following facts: the kinetic differential equations of these reactions each have two limit cycles surrounding the stationary point of focus type in the positive quadrant. In the case of Model 1, the outer limit cycle is stable and the inner one is unstable, which appears in a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. Moreover, the oscillations in a neighborhood of the outer limit cycle are slow-fast oscillations. In the case of Model 2, the outer limit cycle is unstable and the inner one is stable. With another set of parameters, the outer limit cycle can be made stable and the inner one unstable.

Limit Cycles Induced by Threshold Nonlinearity in Planar Piecewise Linear Systems of Node-Focus or Node-Center Type

In this paper, we investigate limit cycles induced by threshold nonlinearity of piecewise linear (PWL) differential systems, which are node-focus type or node-center type with the focus or the center being virtual or boundary. To get the number and stability of limit cycles, we adopt a new displacement function with a better configuration than usual. For a given parameter subregion, we exhibit the exact number or the minimum number of limit cycles. In particular, sufficient conditions are established ensuring that there are exactly two limit cycles. When the focus is boundary, we not only show that the maximum number is two, but also verify that the exact number is zero, one or two by varying parameter subregions. Finally, the exact number as well as the stability are obtained in different parameter regions for the PWL differential systems of node-center type.

Perspective construal techniques in indirect non-referential naming

The research explores the perspective construal techniques applied in predicate indirect noun groups in Russian. In this case, the discourse perspective is construed with a highly salient ob-ject of perspective in the construed frame of reference. To achieve this effect, the speaker / narrator chooses a particular type of predicate indirect noun groups, such as predicate con-structions with the verbs of fictive motion, appearance, and being (existence) or comparative constructions. Each of these construction types demonstrates its own linguistic and cognitive features, which are used to apply various perspectivization techniques to ensure that its inter-pretation will proceed successfully. To detect these techniques, a complex procedure is applied. Hand-selected fragments analysis followed by corpus statistic and correlation analysis help define the parameters and values in predicate indirect noun group constructions. These parameters are referential (bodily modus type, referent type, referent focus type), lexical (first / repeated lexeme use, type of attribute in pre-position, intensifier type in pre-position), syntactic (sentence initial / final position, position before a clause, co-reference distance in words and propositions) and textual ones (textual role, new microevent introduction). Vari-ance analysis has revealed a group of parameters typical for the studied construction types of predicate indirect noun groups. Parametric results allow describe the typical techniques of object mental scanning, object construal, frames of reference (coordinate system) construal. These include the techniques of mental path shortening / prolongation, embodiment con- strual alleviation / constraining, animated / non-animated object construal, stability / instabil-ity of frames of reference, etc.

Global Tracer Facility Global Tracer Survey 2020 (Year 5) Survey Instrument Items

This survey instrument for the Year 7 Global Tracer Facility (GTF) Global Tracer Survey 2020 outlines the survey sections, area of focus, type of question and response options. The questions in the survey relate to the Australian development scholarship/fellowship which participants have previously completed. If participants have undertaken more than one Australian development scholarship please answer these questions in relation to the one that gave the higher qualification.

Employee motivational structure as a factor of organizational commitment

The article presents empirical findings of characteristics of the employee motivation structure of a manufacturing plant depending on the commitment level of employees. The authors used a complex approach to assessing the employee motivational structure. The diagnostic complex included research methods of employee satisfaction of needs, job satisfaction, personality focus, type of motivational structure. To study the organizational commitment of employees, the organizational commitment questionnaire of L. Porter was used. The number of respondents was 104 people, 51 people of them had a high level of commitment, 53 people – a low level. The empirical study revealed differences in the employee motivational structure depending on the level of their organizational commitment. Employees with a high organizational commitment level demonstrated a more mature and harmonious motivational structure: focus on the task, creative activity in the labour process and aiming at social usefulness; significantly higher satisfaction rates of social and interpersonal needs, needs for recognition and self-expression (p<0.01).